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Humans and Robots: A Mutually Inclusive Relationship in a Contagious World

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Abstract

The Coronavirus global pandemic has spread faster and more severely than experts had anticipated. While this has presented itself as a great challenge, researchers worldwide have shown ingenuity and dexterity in adapting technology and devising new strategies to combat this pandemic. However, implementing these strategies alone impedes the nature of everyone’s daily life. Hence, an intersection between these strategies and the technological advantages of robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems is essential for near-to-normal operation. In this review paper, different applications of robotic systems, various aspects of modern technologies, including medical imaging, telemedicine, and supply chains, have been covered with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, concerns over user’s data privacy, job losses, and legal aspects of the implementation of robotics are also been discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, 248007, India

    Akash Gupta & Deepak Bharadwaj

  2. Department of Systems Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742, USA

    Anshuman Singh

  3. Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Dubai, 345050, UAE

    Amit Kumar Mondal

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Correspondence to Amit Kumar Mondal.

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Akash Gupta received the B. Eng. degree in mechanical engineer from Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), India in 2014, and received the M. Eng. degree in robotics engineering from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India in 2016. He is currently working on a low-cost upper-limb active exoskeleton device and has published research articles on healthcare robotics, book chapters, and filed a patent recently. He is working as a doctoral research fellow at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India.

His research interests include rehabilitation robotics and assistive devices.

Anshuman Singh received the B. Tech. degree in mechatronics from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India in 2019. He is a master student in systems engineering with the focus on robotics at the University of Maryland, USA, under the guidance of Prof. Dr. John McCarthy. Before joining the University of Maryland in 2018, he interned at ENSMM, France under the guidance of Dr. Joel Imbaud where he worked on the implementation of Software Defined Radios on a Red Pitaya Board.

His research interests include robotics, perception, planning and decentralized control.

Deepak Bharadwaj received Ph. D. degree in mechanical engineering. He is working as an assistant professor fellow at University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India in 2019.

His research interests include bi-pedal robots and reinforcement learning.

Amit Kumar Mondal received the Ph.D. degree in robotics engineering from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, India in 2015. He is working as an assistant professor in Department of Mechatronics Engineering, In-Charge Centre for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, UAE. He has published more than 40 papers in national and international journals and conferences. He has filed 3 patents and completed 3 externally funded projects from Science and Engineering Research Board and Ind-U.S. Science and Technology Forum.

His research interests include mobile robotics, autonomous system, and industrial automation.

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Gupta, A., Singh, A., Bharadwaj, D. et al. Humans and Robots: A Mutually Inclusive Relationship in a Contagious World. Int. J. Autom. Comput. 18, 185–203 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-020-1266-8

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